I have met a great celebrity, Madame Dudevant, known as George Sand... Her appearance is not to my liking. Indeed there is something about her which positively repels me... What an unattractive person La Sand is... Is she really a woman? I'm inclined to doubt it.

It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to. You know what I mean. I tell my piano the things I used to tell you.

The last thing is simplicity. After having gone through all the difficulties, having played an endless number of notes, it is simplicity that matters, with all its charm. It is the final seal on Art. Anyone who strives for this to begin with will be disappointed. You cannot begin at the end.

Oh, how hard it must be to die anywhere but in ones birthplace.

After a rest in Edinburgh, where, passing a music-shop, I heard some blind man playing a mazurka of mine.

My manuscripts sleep, while I cannot, for I am covered with poultices.

Even in winter it shall be green in my heart.